For highlighting information about human rights violations suffered by 31 Burmese Migrant Workers who were working at Asahi Kosei(M) Sdn Bhd, in Charles Hector Blog, HR Defender, Charles Hector, has been sued for RM10 million by the said company.

ALIRAN has up a fund so that concerned groups and persons can contribute to the legal cost and expenses incurred by Charles Hector, Human Rights Defender, in the legal suit initiated by Asahi Kosei (M) Sdn Bhd. A lot of financial support is needed and your immediate assistance is needed.

Payments can be made by bank transfer to:

Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraBank account number:

107 246 109 510

Malayan Banking Berhad, Green Lane branch, Penang, Malaysia.

(If you are outside Malaysia, please include the “SWIFT” code for our bank: MBBEMYKL)

Please also email us at aliran@streamyx.com to indicate that it is a donation to Hector’s Legal Defence Fund.

Donations may also be made by cheque or bank draft made payable to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara. Mail your cheque/bank draft to us at 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, Penang, Malaysia, indicating clearly that it is a donation to the Hector Legal Defence Fund. [http://aliran.com/4590.html]

Friday, 26 August 2011

MALAYSIA: Human Rights Defender’s case closes

MALAYSIA: Human Rights Defender’s case closes

On the 25th August 2011 after an exhausting, expensive and exasperating six months Charles Hector and Asahi Kosei arrived at a settlement. According to the settlement, Charles Hector will pay RM1 in costs and RM1 in damages to Asahi Kosei. A further condition that Charles Hector has to satisfy is the publication of a half-page advertisement in The Star national daily newspaper and in the Nanyang Siang Pau national daily newspaper .

We hope that thiscourt case acts asa wake up call for all stakeholders, including government authorities, international agencies, diplomats ,trade unions, business corporations,to urgently reviewmechanisms touphold the rights of migrant workers and human rights defenders.

Although the court case is over the situation of migrant workers still requires your vigilance and Charles Hector as a human rights defenders still requires your support. He has already incurred considerable debt during this struggle. Now he must find a further USD7000 urgently to pay for the advertisements required by Asahi kosei within the next 21 days.

The information provided by the workers. After they complaint about wages, wage deductions,.. they were threatened, there was attempts to send back workers to Burma, removal of electrical and cooking items and disconnection of electrical supply... Details of the said violations were then highlighted in the blog beginning 8/2/2011.

On 14/2/2011, the company did file the legal suit, and also an got ,amongst others, a 'gag' order' on 17/2/2011. All this were done without the knowledge of Charles Hector. The said order and the court documents was handed over to Charles Hector on 21/2/2011.

The stay applied for was not granted by the Court of Appeal on 23/08/2011, and the trial at the High Court in Shah Alam is expected to proceed on the following day, i.e. 24/8/2011, 25/8/2011 and 26/8/2011.

HR Defender, blogger and lawyer is being sued by Asahi Kosei(M) Sdn Bhd for highlighting injustices affecting 31 Burmese migrant workers working at the factory of the said company. Targeting those who highlight injustices is EVIL.